Nurses’ ICU Scrubs Often Pick Up Disease-Causing Germs, Study Finds.

reports, “The ‘scrubs’ of intensive care unit (ICU) nurses often pick up disease-causing germs, including those resistant to antibiotics,” researchers found after collecting samples from 40 ICU nurses “before and after each 12-hour shift,” as well as samples from “all the patients the nurses cared for and items in the patients’ rooms.” Investigators “found 22 instances when at least one of the five germs” focused on by the study “was transmitted from the patient or the room to a nurse’s scrubs.” HCP Live (10/27, Scott) reports, “The study tracked methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which are resistant to many antibiotics.” The findings were presented at IDWeek 2016. https://consumer.healthday.com/infectious-disease-information-21/staph-infection-mrsa-news-766/briefs-emb-10-27-10amet-nurses-scrubs-bacteria-idweek-duke-release-batch-2933-716183.html